The I exists only in language and thought that is made of language. I exists in my parent's accusation that 'I' didn't do something. It is in situations like my parent accusing me of not doing something that the consciousness of 'I' becomes acute because of the pain that goes with the accusation. I is the 'thing' or the 'free willing morally responsible agent or the soul' that is responsible for not doing whatever my parent said I didn't do. It is that thing that is interpreted as worthless and inferior on account of it not doing what my parent accused it didn’t do. What exactly is this 'I' that my parent says didn't do that every worthy person ought to have done?. It is not this body. It must be the brain. Which part of the brain? It is the part of the brain that has the ability to act freely and by its own volition and moral responsibility. Which is this part of the brain? Is it the prefrontal lobe of the brain? Is it some focus within the prefrontal lobe? Is it made of nerve cells? Or is it the programmed software that the focus in the prefrontal lobe runs? Is it the neural hardware or the software that it runs? Or is it something that is distinct and separate from the brain tissue that is free and morally responsible and that prods the brain tissue to act hovering over it in a non-material form - something that may be called the 'soul'?. If this soul is an energy that acts on the brain tissue to make it function, then it must be material - as energy and matter are interchangeable. If the soul is not an energy and something 'spiritual' like consciousness itself, it will be completely distinct and separate from the body and the brain tissue. And therefore this soul will not be the brain, neural tissue or any part of the body. The brain is a computer. It is programmed or conditioned by the genes and the information that it is fed into it as it goes through life.
Thus, if there is a soul, it has nothing to do with the body and brain that was obtained through biological evolution and inheritance down the genetic line. The soul need not feel guilty or ashamed of the body and brain it is connected to.
If there is no soul and decisions are a result of software programming in the neural tissue and the thought of being responsible and willing freely is also a thought that is part of the software and what I feel I am doing is actually a nature-determined action that my brain computer is made to do with the appended thought that whatever is executed in the brain computer is done freely by the thing called 'I". This is followed by conditioned thoughts that say 'I must be responsible, I am guilty, I should be ashamed' etc making the 'I' seem more real.
The long and the short of it is that the I is not any part of the brain or body. If it is software, it is unreal and a delusion. If it is spiritual and animating the brain, then again it is separate from the brain and body.
That the 'I' is the body or the brain is not true. The I does not exist in a material form as energy or energy residing inside material tissue - aside from the controversial possibility that it is a free-willing morally responsible soul and in which case also, it is free from the body. It is the confusion that the ‘I’ is the body (or the brain) that causes problems.
Thus, if there is a soul, it has nothing to do with the body and brain that was obtained through biological evolution and inheritance down the genetic line. The soul need not feel guilty or ashamed of the body and brain it is connected to.
If there is no soul and decisions are a result of software programming in the neural tissue and the thought of being responsible and willing freely is also a thought that is part of the software and what I feel I am doing is actually a nature-determined action that my brain computer is made to do with the appended thought that whatever is executed in the brain computer is done freely by the thing called 'I". This is followed by conditioned thoughts that say 'I must be responsible, I am guilty, I should be ashamed' etc making the 'I' seem more real.
The long and the short of it is that the I is not any part of the brain or body. If it is software, it is unreal and a delusion. If it is spiritual and animating the brain, then again it is separate from the brain and body.
That the 'I' is the body or the brain is not true. The I does not exist in a material form as energy or energy residing inside material tissue - aside from the controversial possibility that it is a free-willing morally responsible soul and in which case also, it is free from the body. It is the confusion that the ‘I’ is the body (or the brain) that causes problems.
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